Lock core



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR W. E. BEST Nov. 24, 1970 LOCK CORE Filed May 14, 1969 FIGI United States Patent 3,541,821 LOCK CORE Walter E. Best, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to Best Lock Corporation, Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 817,362,

Apr. 18, 1969. This application May 14, 1969, Ser.

Int. Cl. Fb 27/08, 33/00 US. Cl. 70-369 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A key-removable, front-breech mounted, pin tumbler lock. A front breech plate is rotatively positioned by a thin sleeve which surrounds the full length of the key plug and has a thick web movable in the pin-barrel web of the core body and intersecting and forming part of the tumbler pin barrels. Pins in such barrels normally hold the sleeve and plug locked to the core body. In normal operation an operating key moves the pins for shear separation at the surface of the key plug while locking the sleeve to the core body. For lock-core removal, a control key moves the pins for shear separation at the outer face of the sleeve web and locks the sleeve to the key plug, and key turning then turns the breech plate to released position.

This is a continuation-in-part of my prior co-pending application Serial No. 817,362, filed Apr. 18, 1969 for Breech Lock Core and Knob.

This invention relates to a pin-tumbler lock core hav ing a front breech mounting controlled by a full-length sleeve surrounding the key plug, and constitutes an improvement of the Frank E. Best Patent No. 2,907,197.

The invention provides a pin-tumbler lock core having a front breech mounting, which is inexpensive to manufacture and assemble, requires substantially less material than the lock of said prior Pat. No. 2,907,197 and is useful in a wide range of applications.

In accordance with the invention, the core body has a lower cylindrical portion adapted to receive both the key plug and a surrounding thin-walled control sleeve, a thickened shoulder portion defining a groove to receive a thick web on such control sleeve, and a pin barrel web extending outward from such shoulder section. The key plug, the control sleeve web, and the pin barrel web are drilled radially to form pin tumbler barrels. The control sleeve web provides an operating shear line between the inner face of the control sleeve and the key plug, and a control shear line between the outer face of the control sleeve web and the adjacent face of the shoulder section of the core body. A breech plate mounted at the front of the key plug and interlocked with the web of the control sleeve is rotatively controlled by the sleeve for movement of say 15 between a breech locking position and a release position. A face plate is mounted with the breech plate behind a front retaining flange of the key plug. The assembly is held together, and the key plug and the con trol sleeve are retained in the core body, by a key stop fixed to the rear of the plug. A throw member connects the key plug to a spindle for operating a bolt or other secondary lock. The core is adapted to be mounted in a breech opening in a mounting wall, especially a wall at the front of a door knob.

Breech plate operation is key controlled. Tumbler pins in the several barrels normally lock the sleeve to the body in a breech-locking position. A control key actuates the pin stacks in the several barrels to align pin separation faces with the control shear line between the sleeve web ice and the body, and the pins are so arranged that they then lock the sleeve to the key plug. The control key will then turn the plug and the sleeve to rotate the breech plate between breech-locked and unlocked postion. An operating key actuates the pin stacks to align separationfaces in the operating shear line between the sleeve and the key plug, and the pins then lock the sleeve to the body. The operating key then operates the key plug in the normal manner.

The operation of inserting a key removable core em bodying the invention is first to insert the control key and with it to rotate the key plug, sleeve, and breech plate from its normal locked postion to its release position, then to insert the core through the breech opening in the mounting wall, and then to return the key plug, sleeve and breech plate to their normal positions, in which the control key is removable from the key plug.

In one modification, the lock core is retained in place by engagement of the mounting wall between the breech plate and the face plate. In another modification, the breech plate has engagement lugs in one plane, and olfset fingers in a forwardly displaced plane, and the mounting wall is engaged between such lugs and fingers in a manner to lock the breech plate to the mounting wall.

The breech mounting desirably permits installation in either of two positions apart. To this end the breech opening includes diametrically opposite slots to pass the pin barrel web of the core body, and the configuration of the breech plate and mounting plate opening are symmetrical with respect to such two positions.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention, and show embodiments of the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. In such draw- 1ngs:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of a door knob structure containing a key removable core in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale of the core shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of a modified form of breech plate, showing a fragmental portion of a mounting plate, taken generally on the line 55 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal partial section similar to FIG. 2 showing a breech mounting embodying the modified breech plate of FIG. 5, taken on the line 66 of FIG. 5.

The embodiments shown in FIGS. 1-4 comprises a knob 10 with a look core 12 mounted in its front face. The knob shown is of tulip-shape and is made of formed sheet metal parts. The knob comprises an inner drawn shell 14 having a rearwardly converging side wall 16 merging into a rear wall 18 which joins a cylindrical mounting sleeve 20. The mounting sleeve 20 is received on an inner cam sleeve 22 of tubular shape and rotatably mounted in the secondary lock mechanism to control the lock bolt in any conventional or known manner. The front end of the cam sleeve 22 is formed with a longitudinal slot 24 for the reception of an inwardly displaced lug 25 on the inner shell 14. The inner shell 14 is covered by a drawn and swaged outer shell 28 having a front face 30 and a side wall 32, the side wall being swaged down over the side wall of the inner shell 14 and flanged inward over the end wall 18. The knob is finished at the rear by a cover ring 34 mounted on the sleeve 20 extending into a trim ring 36 on the knob mounting.

The front face of the knob slopes inward from its outer periphery and is formed with a central recess defined by a drawn section 38 and a bottom mounting wall 40. Such mounting wall 40 is punched to form a breech opening 42 as shown in FIG. 3 for the reception of a breech plate 44 carried by the lock core for mounting such core in the knob.

As is more fully described below, the lock core 12 is mounted in the knob by engagement of the mounting wall 40 between a face plate 80 and a breech plate 44. The core extends rearward from that front mounting, and is connected by a throw member 15 to the spindle 17 of a secondary lock mechanism. The throw member 15 has a pair of spaced forwardly projecting legs 19 which engage in holes in the :key plug in a conventional manner, and has a rearwardly open cross slot which receives the flat spindle 17. The front end of the spindle is tapered so that it will enter the cross slot in the throw member 15 and may be rotated into coplanar relation with the slot when the core is inserted in its mounting with the key plug rotated to a position for engaging the breech plate 44 in the mounting plate.

The breech opening 42 may have any suitable breechlock configuration, but preferably has that shown in my aforesaid co-pending application. This preferred configuration shown in FIG. 3, comprises two symmetrical halves. At the top and bottom, the breech opening includes a deep notch 46 of a size to closely receive the pin barrel web of the core body 12. Proceeding clockwise from each such notch, the breech opening defines first an inward tongue 48, then a notch 50, then an inward tongue 52, then a notch 54, then a tongue 56, and then a wide notch 58 which merges with and joins the opposite web-receiving notch 46. Each recited element has a similar element diametrically opposite, so that the breech opening is diametrically symmetrical, and permits the lock core to be mounted in either of two positions 180 apart and hence right side up in any mounting of the knob. The breech plate 44 has a configuration complementary to the breech opening except for the web receiving slots 46, and thus has tongues 51, 55, 57 and 57 adapted to pass through the slots 50, 54, and '58 respectively of the breech opening. As shown in FIG. 3, the tongue 57 terminates at its clockwise end in a position to abut against the side face of the pin barrel web of the core body 12, and thus to form a stop lug which fixes the clockwise limit of rotation of the breech plate 44. The counterclockwise edge of the lug 51 is located to engage the opposite face of the pin barrel web in the locked position of the breech plate 44 and hence the lug 51 forms a stop lug which fixes the counterclockwise limit of rotation of the plate 44. As shown in FIG. 3, the lug 57' at the bottom of the breech plate 44 need not terminate at the line dividing the mounting plate notches 46 and 58, but may extend clockwise into the notch 46 since, when the core body is mounted with its pin barrel web in the top notch 46, the bottom notch 46 is unoccupied. Accordingly, at the top, the notch in the breech plate 44 between the lugs 57 and 51 will be a wide notch sufficient to receive the pin barrel web of the core body 12 and to pass the mounting lug 48, whereas at the bottom the space between the lug 51 and the lug 57' is only sufficient to pass the mounting lug 48.

As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the lock core body 12 comprises a lower cylindrical portion 60, a shoulder section 61 and an upper pin barrel web 62. The cylindrical portion 60 and shoulder section 61 are bored to contain a cylindrical opening 63 for the reception of the control sleeve 74, and the shoulder section 61 is internally broached to form a wide groove 73 for the reception of the thick control sleeve web 75. The outer face of the con trol sleeve web 75 is a cylindrical face which closely fits the cylindrical bottom surface of the groove 73, and the groove 73 is sufficiently wider than the sleeve web 75 to allow say 15 of rotative movement between a breechreleased position as shown in full lines in FIGS. 3 and 4 and a breech-locked position as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3. The control sleeve 74 defines a cylindrical opening which receives the key plug 64. The pin barrel web 62, the control sleeve web 74, and the key plug 64 are bored radially to form pin barrels 66 which intersect the key slot 70 which is broached longitudinally through the key plug 64. The key plug also contains a pair of drilled holes 72 for the reception of the legs of a throw member described below.

The core body 12 may be made by cutting suitable lengths from a brass extrusion having the cross section of the core body 12. The front end of the core body blank is cut away, as on a screw machine, to remove a front portion of its cylindrical and shoulder sections 60 and 61 and provide a front face against which the breech plate 44 is received. Such cutting away leaves a nose portion 76 defined at its inner periphery by an arc of the same radius as the inner end of the tongue 48 defined by the breech opening 42, such nose portion 76 being adapted to extend through a notch 46 of the breech opening to lock the core body against rotation in the mounting wall 40. Such nose portion also desirably extends beyond the mounting wall 40 into a notch 81 in the face plate 80 to lock such face plate 80 against rotation.

The key plug 64 is rotatably mounted in the thin Walled control sleeve 74 which in turn is mounted in the bore 63 of the core body 12. The key plug 64 has a front retaining flange 78 which serves to retain the face plate 80 and the breech plate 44 against forward displacement. The face plate 80 fits within the drawn section 38 of the knob face and fills the central recess of the knob. Its inner periphery closely surrounds the cylindrical body of the key plug 64 immediately behind the flange 78. The breech plate 44 is mounted immediately behind the face plate 80. As shown in FIG. 3, its inner periphery comprises a circular portion 82 closely surrounding the key plug, and a notch 84 which fits over a lug 77 on the front end of the control sleeve web to rotatively lock the breech plate 44 to the control sleeve 74. The breech plate 44 and the face plate are axially positioned between the front flange 78 of the key plug 64 and the front faces of the sleeve 74 and the core body 12, with the face plate 80 held against rotation by the front nose 76 on the core body and with the breech plate 44 rotatable through a short are under control of the control sleeve 74.

The key plug 64 and the control sleeve 74 extend rearward through the core body 12. A key stop is secured by rivets 88 to the rear end of the plug and extends outward therefrom across the thin cylindrical wall of the sleeve 74 and into bearing relation with the rear face of the core body 12 about the periphery of its cylindrical bore 63. The key stop thus bears against the rear face of the body to hold the plug and the sleeve axially in the body. As shown in FIG. 2, the key stop contains an opening 91 to pass the nose of the key. It also contains openings to pass the legs of the throw memher.

The several pin barrels 66 extend through the pin barrel web of the core body 12, through the web 75 of the control sleeve 74, and into the key plug 64. In accordance with conventional practice, smaller holes may extend from the bottom of the pin barrels through the lower portion of the key plug 64 and the bottom portions of the sleeve 74 and body 12 to provide knock-out holes for removing the tumbler pins. Each tumbler pin barrel contains a stack of tumbler pins 106 spring pressed inward by springs 108 retained by caps 110. As shown, each stack of pins includes a bottom pin 106a, an intermediate pin 10612 and a top pin 1060 which abut at shear separation faces 112. A lock operating shear line 114 is defined at the circumferential surface of the key plug 64 between such key plug and the surrounding inner periphery of the control sleeve 74. A control.

shear line" 116 is defined between the outer face of the control sleeve web 75 and the overlying bottom wall of the groove 73 formed in the core body 12.

In the absence of a key, the separation faces 112 of the. pins lie out of alignment with the two shear lines,

and the key plug 64 and the control sleeve 74 are both locked against rotation in the core body 12. An operating key in the keyway 78 will lift each pin stack to bring its separation face 112 between the pin sections 1064 and 1061) into alignment with the operating shear line 114, and this will permit the key plug 64 to be turned in the usual manner for key operation of the lock, to

turn the throw member and the spindle 17 of the secondary lock. During such operation the pin stacks in the several pin barrels 66 will be so positioned that pin segments will extend across the control shear line 116 to lock the breech control sleeve 74 to the core body 12 and thereby prevent rotation of such sleeve 74 and the breech plate 44 controlled by such sleeve.

For operation of the breech mounting, a special con trol key 124 is inserted in the keyway 70. It raises the several pin stacks to positions at which their separation faces between. their b and c segments are aligned with the control shear line 116 at the upper face of the control sleeve web 75 and to position the separation faces between the a and b segments out of alignment with the operating shear line 114. This permits the control sleeve 74 to turn in the core body 12 and locks such control sleeve 74 to the key plug 64, so that key turning will turn both the key plug 64 and the control sleeve 74. This will permit the control sleeve and the breech plate 44 to be turned to the position shown in FIG. 3.

This turned position shown in full lines in FIG. 3 is the extreme clockwise position to which the breech plate 44 may be turned by the key plug 64 and the breech control sleeve 74, the turning being stopped by engagement of the lug 57 of the breech plate against the side of the pin barrel web 62.

In that extreme clockwise position, the lugs 51, 55, 57 and 57 will be aligned with the notches 50, 54 and 58 of the breech plate opening 42 in the mounting wall 40. Hence the entire core assembly, including the core body 12, the breech plate 42, the face plate 80 and the key plug 64, is then free to be moved axially into or out of its opening in the mounting wall 40. To mount such a core assembly in a mounting wall, such as the front wall of the knob l10, the breech plate is turned to its extreme clockwise position as shown in FIG. 3 and described above, and the core assembly is inserted axially through the breech opening 42 until the face plate 80- is seated in the recess and against the mounting wall 40. The breech plate 44 will then lie behind the plane of the mounting plate 40. The control key 124 is then turned counterclockwise to rotate the key plug 64 counter clockwise from the position shown in full lines in FIG. 3 to the position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3. This rotates the sleeve 74 and the breech plate 44 counterclockwise and carries the lugs 51, 55, 57 and 57' of the breech plate behind the inward projecting lugs 48, 52 and 56 of the mounting wall 40, to lock the core assembly in such mounting wall. The base plate 80 bears against the mounting wall 40 near its periphery and lugs of the breech plate 44 bear against the back face of the mounting wall 40. The control key will then be in key removal position and is removed, and the lock core remains in securely installed position for operation in the usual manner by an operating key.

The particular shape of the breech plate and its interrelation with the other structure provides especially advantageous mounting and installation, as more fully described in my co-pending application. The lugs 57 and 51 at opposite sides of the nose portion 74 of the pin barrel web 62 serve as stop lugs which are spaced to permit operative rotation of the breech plate and to engage the web 62 as a stop and thereby determine the locked and unlocked positions of the breech plate shown respectively in full and dotted lines in FIG. 3. Points of engagement between the breech plate and the mounting wall are located to give engagements at both sides of the vertical and horizontal center lines and thus gives a balanced breech plate engagement. The breech plate and its opening are diametrically symmetrical, so that the lock core can be mounted in either of two positions 180 apart.

It is pointed out that the breech-control sleeve 74 is relatively thin over most of its periphery, but carries a thick control sleeve web 75 whose inner and outer faces define the operating and control shear lines 114 and 116. The distance between these two shear lines, and hence the radial thickness of the control sleeve web 75 is desirably at least equal to the full range of combinating positions of the tumbler pins 106, which corresponds to the full range of key cut positions on the operating and control keys. This permits the operating and control keys to be independently combinated so that the control key combinations will not interfere with or limit the number of combinations available for the operating keys and the various master keys and sub-master keys which may be desired. In the embodiment shown, the radial thickness of the control sleeve web 75 may be 0.125 inch, in accordance with a standard combinating system employed by my company, in which the pin stacks have ten combinating positions and the keys have ten key-cut positions.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a modified breech 144 which may be used instead of the breech plate 44 for mounting a lock core in the wall mounting 40. Such modified plate 144 has an inner periphery by which it is mounted on the key plug 64 and the control sleeve 74 in the same way as the breech plate 44. The modified plate, instead of having notches cut out between its lugs 51-55 and 55-57 (or 57), has the material in such notches displaced forwardly to form tongues 152 and 156 which lie in a plane in front of the front face of the mounting plate 40.

When the breech plate 144 is inserted into mounting relation with the mounting plate 40, the tongues 152 and 156 engage against the front face of the mounting lugs 52 and 56. When the breech plate is then rotated to locked position (shown in FIGS. 5 and 6), the rotative movement carries the breech plate lugs 55 and 57 behind the mounting lugs 52 and '56, as in the modification of FIGS. 2 and 3. Such movement also carries the tongues 152 and 156 partly out of alignment with the mounting lugs 52 and 56 but not completely out of overlapping relation. Accordingly, the breech plate will have its lugs 55, 57 and 57' engaged against the back face of the mounting lugs 52 and 56 and will have its tongues 152 and 156 engaged against the front face of those lugs. This will firmly lock the breech plate 144 to the mounting plate 40 independently of the action of the face plate 8-0 and independently of the action of the key plug 64 and key stop in retaining the breech plate and face plate to gether in a clamping relationship.

In both modifications, the thin-wall and web configuration of the control sleeve permits the core body to be smaller and permits the breech plate to have a relatively small central opening and an annular section of adequate width and strength within the limits of an outer periphery and locking area of substantially less radius than the full radial height of the pin barrel web. The arrangement not only provides direct savings in material but also provides a compact and adequately sturdy assembly with piece parts of thinner stock than would otherwise be required.

I claim:

1. A key-removable, front-breech mounted, pin tumbler lock core comprising a core body having a cylindrical portion, a shoulder section, and a pin-barrel web, a cylindrical bore in said cylindrical portion and a wide longitudinal groove in said shoulder section open to said bore,

a breech-control sleeve having a thin-walled cylindrical portion rotatably mounted in said bore and having a thick web disposed in said groove and arcuately movable in said groove through a predetermined angle,

a key plug rotatably mounted in said control sleeve,

a plurality of tumber pin barrels extending through said pin-barrel web and said control-sleeve web and into said key plug,

said structure defining an operating shear line at all pin-barrel positions between the key plug and the control sleeve, and a control shear line between the outer face of the control-sleeve web and the pin barrel web of the body,

pin stacks in said barrels normally locking said plug and sleeve to each other and against rotation in the core body,

a breech plate at the front of said control sleeve, rotatively positioned thereby and rotatable through said predetermined angle between breech-locked and unlocked positions,

said breech plate being adapted to be inserted rearwardly through a breech opening in a mounting wall and thereafter turned to locked position to retain the lock core against forward removal,

and means to position said lock core against rearward movement relative to the mounting wall and to there by cooperate with the breech plate to retain the lock core in mounted position,

said pin stacks having operating positions to which they are moved by an operating key and wherein they undergo shear separation at said operating shear line, and having control positions to which they are moved by a control key and wherein they undergo shear separation at said control shear line and lock the control sleeve to the key plug for rotation therewith by said control key between locked and unlocked positions.

2. A look core according to claim 1 wherein the breech plate is retained in position between a forwardly disposed face on the core body and a rearwardly-disposed flange shoulder on the key plug, and the key plug is retained against forward movement.

3. A lock core according to claim 1, wherein the breech plate has a notch engaged with a front portion of the control-sleeve web to rotatively lock the two together.

4. A lock core according to claim 3 wherein the breech plate has an inner periphery rotatively engaged about the key plug between the front of the control sleeve and a flange on said key plug.

5. A lock core according to claim 1 wherein the means to position the lock core against rearward movement comprises a face plate for engagement against the front of the mounting wall.

6. A lock core according to claim 1 wherein the means to position the lock core against rearward movement comprises axially-displaced tongues on the breech plate disposed to engage the front face of the mounting wall when the breech plate is rotated to locked position.

7. A lock core according to claim 1 wherein said control sleeve web has a radial thickness at least equal to the range of combinating positions of the pin stacks.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,807,158 9/1957 Best -370 2,907,197 10/1959 Best 70369 3,201,189 7/1966 Best 70-364 3,286,773 11/1966 Russell et al. 70371 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner R. L. WOLFE, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 70-3 64 

